Sergio Aguirre is weak, pale. Sometimes he fumbles for words, and it’s not because English isn’t his first language. He’d been on a hunger strike, and hadn’t had anything besides water and tea in four days.

The planned destruction of Willets Point may be New York City’s most vile campaign against its own working poor. Now the mechanics that the city wants to throw out on the street are holding a hunger strike in defiance. Let me explain what happened to get to this very low, low point.

[The workers of Willets Point, the post-apocalyptic-looking neighborhood of auto repair shops in Queens, NY, faces a deadline today to move out or be forced out. The businesses of the 62-acre area are fighting back in the courts. Photo credit Michael Ballaban.]